#thehelicopterline

Doing a Heli hike counts as one of the most popular but also most expensive activities you can do in New Zealand. There are so many different options and it can be hard to decide what place you want to save up for and if it is actually worth it. Unfortunately we didn’t do all Heli hikes in New Zealand (I wish we did though!), but I hope that I can pass on our experience that may help you to decide if this is the activity for you!

“The Helicopter Line” has been operating since 1996 and have a heritage that can be traced back 100 years and have an excellent safety record, rigid assessments and only use really high quality gear, so we definitely felt in safe hands.

 As we stayed in the Hermitage Hotel we got picked up by the “Helicopter Line” to take us to the Mount Cook Airport, which was a really nice service to have available. We then got kitted out with ice crampons and if you don’t have appropriate boots and clothing you can also get them. We were told that it is super warm on the glacier so we only wore 1 layer and a thin jacket, which was more than enough. Also, a big essential are sunglasses, as it is extremely bright on the ice, and sunscreen!

After the strict security instructions we got split up into two groups (four people each on a helicopter). This was our first helicopter flight and it was honestly incredible. The views are spectacular and my brain struggled to compress the scale of what we saw. It is hard to describe, but everything you see looks a lot smaller than it actually is.

When we got dropped off on the glacier our guide was already expecting us. It is a bit scary when the helicopter takes off and lands when you’re outside as the air throws around the ice, therefore it’s essential to protect your head with your arms and to knee down on the ice. While the helicopter returned to the airport to pick up the rest of the group we got our ice crampons out and got them fitted to our shoes/boots.

May the walk begin! As we said, it's a very unique and special experience and you learn a lot about glaciers and their history. The guide showed us different techniques on how to walk with the ice crampons (it’s not as easy as you may think!) because you need to lift up your knees slightly higher than normal, a moderate level of fitness is therefore required to be safe on the ice.  

Overall you spend around two hours in the mountains and get to explore the white ice with an interpretative track and of course you get to take lots and lots of photos in the spectacular sceneries, which you can see examples of below!

Please not that any type of flight activities are weather dependent and so we would always recommend to plan a couple of days in the location to ensure you have some air in case something goes wrong and the flight has to be cancelled.

As you can see we had a phenomenal day with amazing weather and we can only highly recommend this activity when you come to New Zealand. We surely cannot say it’s the best Heli hike, because we haven’t done all the others yet, however we can hardly imagine it getting any better! 

Kiwi Scores: Action: 5/5 Service: 4/5 Uniqueness: 5/5 WOW-Factor: 5/5 Cultural value: 3/5 Value for money: 4/5 Accessibility: 4/5

Useful Links:

VLOG: https://youtu.be/6gWm0GiWoO4